


Three Men and a Baby

by nagi_schwarz



Series: The Oppenheimer Effect [51]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Crossover, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-17 22:30:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7288654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, diaper duty."</p><p>In which Rodney volunteers Casa Atlantica as emergency shelter placement for a baby, John cannot sleep, and JD sings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Men and a Baby

On the nightstand, the baby monitor began to wail. Sophia was crying again.

John woke painfully, groggy. He prodded Rodney’s shoulder. “Rodney,” he said. “Rodney, I can’t do this. It’s your turn.”

But Rodney, who’d gotten up with the baby before, rolled over and kept on snoring.

John’s entire body ached, and he felt like he hadn’t slept in years, even though it had only been a few days. John hadn’t even known that Fiona had called, asked Rodney to take a baby girl for emergency shelter placement till kin was located. He’d assumed Rodney would say no, because the only time either of them had changed a diaper was on a plastic doll in one of the foster parent classes. He hadn’t expected Rodney to be such a bleeding heart, and he’d come home to Rodney cradling a sleeping baby girl and looking so happy that John couldn’t bring himself to call Fiona and tell her to take the baby back.

He desperately wished she would come and take the baby back.

Sophia’s wailing spiked, and John forced himself to his feet. His eyelids felt like they were made of sandpaper. He scooped up the diaper bag and stumbled for the den where the pack and play crib was being kept.

When he got there, though, one of the lamps was on, dimmed low, and JD was holding Sophia, rocking her and hushing her, and her wails had subsided to hiccups.

“I’m on diaper duty,” John said stupidly.

“I got this,” JD said gently. “You’re tired. I’m younger, need less sleep. And I have more experience.”

John held out the diaper bag, which JD accepted one-handed. He set aside, then peered down the back of Sophia’s diaper. He wrinkled his nose.

John sank down on the couch, disoriented. He should go back to bed. Rodney was soft and sleep-warm, perfect. But he couldn’t move. Could only watch, fascinated, as JD laid out a mat, put Sophia on it, whipped the dirty diaper off of her before the smell could permeate the air, wiped her clean with swift, confident strokes, shook powder onto her, and then wrangled a diaper onto her despite all her crazy squirming. It looked like he did it all in less than a minute, too. Then he wrapped her back up in her blanket and cradled her close, humming.

Sophia fussed, kicking her little feet, and JD patted her back, hoisted her up on his shoulder and rested his chin on her head. Then he began to sing, quietly, but his voice was piercing. He wasn’t singing in English. John didn’t know the language, but given the way JD was ornamenting his notes, he’d guess it was in Irish, because it sounded like a lot of traditional Irish songs John had heard. He wondered if JD had sung these songs to his own son, or his mother had sung them to him.

John wondered what he would have chosen to sing to his own children.

Eventually Sophia stopped fussing, fell asleep, and JD eased her back into her crib. As soon as he let go of her, she began to fuss, but he actually lay down on the floor beside her crib and kept singing softly, and she settled back down.

“Go back to bed,” JD said. “I’ve got this, I promise.”

“But -”

“You and Rodney are exhausted. You need each other. I can be on diaper duty for a few nights.”

“You sure?” John asked, but JD was gazing at Sophia fondly, had forgotten John’s existence.

So John heaved himself to his feet, hauled himself back to bed, and cuddled up with Rodney.

The next morning, Rodney looked surprisingly chipper despite the dark circles around his eyes. “Sophia must have had an easy night last night. Aren’t you glad your night for diaper duty was easy?” He smiled down at her where she was drinking greedily from her bottle.

John stared at him for a long time, incredulous. Then he sighed, kissed Rodney on the cheek, and headed for the door. JD cast him a knowing look as he went.

John loved Rodney, he really did. Even though each of them were registered as individual foster parents, they had to make decisions like this as a team.

Tyler shuffled into the kitchen, glared at the baby, and made a beeline for the breakfast Evan had made. It was slightly burnt.

Having a baby had upended everything.

But the forlorn looks on both Rodney and JD’s faces when Fiona came to take her to her aunt and uncle in Washington made John wonder if he could ever cope with raising a child from infancy.


End file.
